How to properly wash your car

The Low Down

With the ever increasing number of "pop-up" car washing operations springing up in every disused garage or lay-by here in the UK, I thought it was time to go through the correct routine for caring for your car's paint work and to highlight the problems that many of us never realise every time you wash your car. The true car enthusiasts out there would never place they're car through an automated or "pop-up" hand car wash due to the potential damage that could be inflicted into your paintwork every time you wash the car. I agree, that for most vehicles occasional use of these facilities are necessary for convenience purposes but if, like me, you like your car to look it's best then, hand washing following the method below is the way forward.

Pre-wash

First things first, make sure the car is out of direct sunlight and windy/dusty areas. Seems like common sense but everybody see's a bit of sun and starts washing the car, only to find the water left on the surface of the car evaporates quickly leaving water marks on your clean car. Also, leave the pressure washer out of it for now! If your car is particularly dirty, then using the pressure washer straight away can actually imbed dirt and road debris further into the paint work under the pressure. Not good. What you need to do is just use the hose pipe. The pressure from the hose is more than enough to remove the light film of dirt from the surface of your paint. Start at the top of the car and work your way down, ensuring that every panel is wet. Run the water over the car a few times. This should remove the top layer of dirt at least. Now get the pressure washer up and running and make a start on those wheels and arches. Soak all the wheels and arches first, then apply your cleaning product of choice. More info on products to use in another hub. Scrub alloys with a soft bristle wheel brush and pressure wash off. Its best to do the wheels first as the can be one of the most dirtiest parts and there's no point shampooing the car and washing it all down, just for you to pressure wash the wheels five minutes later and spray all the dirt off the wheels back over the paintwork!

Ok, so wheels done, lets get onto the bodywork. Wash the car with the pressure washer on its lowest setting. Make sure you have prepared you shampoo etc before hand as we don't want the car to dry. The best method for hand washing the paint work is called " the two bucket method" which I'll go through below but first, you must have the right applicator for applying the soap suds to the paint work. Everybody reaches for a sponge, but this is one of the main reasons how the paint work gets scratched and the dreaded swirl marks are introduced.

Source: Lambs Wool Wash Mitt

Why No Sponge???

Well, firstly a sponge is quite a dense solid object, and when rubbed across the paintwork of a relatively dirty car over a period of times can introduce swirl marks and light scratches without you even knowing. The particles of dirt on the surface of the car get trapped between the paintwork and the underside of the sponge. As the sponge is then rubbed over the surface of the paint, usually in circular motions, the particles grind away at the paint on a micro level. These scratches build over time from washing your car with a sponge and you will notice the paint shine fade. One of the best items for the job is a lambswool mitt. These have a very fluffy like texture that allows the dirt particles to sink into the wool and be lifted away from the surface of the paint! That is good! I seriously would invest in one over a sponge. Just search on a good quality car cleaning supplier website such as www.polishedbliss.co.uk over here in the UK. The difference they make is well worth the slightly more expense when compared to a sponge.

The Two Bucket Method

This method is all about trying to limit the amount of dirt particles on the surface of the car each time you rub the panel to apply the shampoo. It's quite simple but the results are amazing. You need to get two buckets. Two standard DIY buckets will do, but I tend to use to clear buckets from a specialist car detailing supplier. So it's easier to see the colour of the water and the debris in it whilst your washing the car. The theory of the two bucket method is basically to wash out the dirt on your chosen applicator before re-applying the shampoo to the surface.

Fill one bucket with warm water and your shampoo. refer to shampoo instructions for mixing ratios etc. Then fill a second bucket with clean cold water and nothing else. You can take this to the extreme and even purchase grit guards, which are circular pieces of plastic that sit just above the bottom surface of the bucket so that any small dirt particles that come off your lambswool mitt fall to the bottom of the bucket and get stuck there so there's little chance of them ending back up on the mitt and therefore less chance of you rubbing them back into the paint work on your car. You may think this is a joke, but wait and see what actually comes off your car into the buckets when you have finished.

So start at the roof of the car and work your way down, one panel at a time. Roof, windows, bonnet, boot, doors, front bumper, rear bumper and side sills/wheel arches. It is wise to buy two lambswool mitts, one for the top half of the car (usually slightly cleaner) and one for the bottom half of the car (dirtier). Get you mitt and dip it in the shampoo bucket, pick up a large amount of water and soap suds and apply to roof of car till all covered with a layer of soap. Try not to apply in circles, instead move your mitt from side to side following the profile of the roof. Before moving to a window or another panel. dip your mitt into the cold water bucket and rinse out all the trapped dirt and dirty soap. Then dunk your clean mitt back into the warm shampoo bucket and re-apply the soap to another panel. Make your way around the car bit by bit, ensuring to always wash off the mitt in the cold bucket before transferring it into your shampoo bucket. This way you are always limiting the amount of dirt that gets into your soap and back onto your car. It really works and by the time you finish, the cold water bucket will be black! If need be, change out your water half way through the clean, just don't let the car dry out. At the end of the shampoo/ cleaning stage, pour out the water in the rinsing bucket and look carefully in the bottom of the bucket. You will see all the dirt that you would of been applying back onto your car with a sponge!!! Nice!!

Once the car is covered in soap suds, leave to dwell on the surface of the car for a couple of minutes. This depends on the shampoo you used. Then fire up your pressure washer and blast all that soap off. Stand back for a second and admire your handy work, but unfortunately that's not where the work ends! You need to dry the paint work now before the sun dry's it for you! There are a few more techniques with drying and applying polishes/waxes but I'll put that in some follow up articles to come. So look out for Part 2 and Part 3!

My car looking clean after a good wash